


keep the Earth below my feet

by organizedchaos703



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Canon Compliant, F/M, Guilt, Love, POV Wanda Maximoff, Tearjerker, Wanda Maximoff Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-21
Updated: 2018-11-21
Packaged: 2019-08-26 23:24:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16690906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/organizedchaos703/pseuds/organizedchaos703
Summary: Wanda had honored Vision's choice even when it destroyed her.





	keep the Earth below my feet

**Author's Note:**

> This is my attempt at writing Wanda's perspective on the scene in Infinity War where she destroys the Mind stone.

This was the end. Vision on his knees, his hand closed on her wrist. Thanos at her back moving closer.

The scent of blood and fire was heavy in the air. Almost tangible. For a second, Wanda was lost. She was a child curled under a bed with her brother's hand in hers, praying for survival. She closed her eyes and forced herself to breathe.

She could almost taste the fear and desperation emanating off the battle. It mixed with the hopelessness flowing through her veins, threatening to drown her.

_If he gets the stone, half the universe dies._

"Don't," she whispered.

Her scarlet reached for him. It wrapped tendrils around his mind until he was the only thing left.

Everything vanished. The battlefield. Thanos. It was all gone. It was just him. Vision and Wanda. He surrounded her until she couldn't tell where she ended and he began.

_It's not fair. It shouldn't be you, but it is._

Wanda could feel his anguish. She felt phantom hands close around her shoulders as he wrapped himself even tighter around her.

She couldn't do it. She wasn't strong enough.

There was no else alive who knew her like Vision. He knew her fears. Her doubts. Her pain. He knew she as trying so hard to atone. She was trying to heal some of the hurt she put out into the world.

She could feel his grief. He knew it would destroy her. Wanda had rebuilt her heart once but she wouldn't survive having to do it a second time.

He wanted to spare her the pain. Yet, he was right. They were out of time. There as no one else.

This was her destiny. To destroy everything she ever loved.

_It's alright. You could never hurt me._

Just yesterday, he was promising her the world. All she had to do was stay.

Wanda wanted to go back to the train station. She would give anything to go back to the when they still had forever.

Then again, Wanda knew better than most how quickly life could turn. Forever could mean an instant.

One bomb. One bullet. One day. It could be the difference between happiness and pain. The difference between life and death.

She choked back her sob and called the scarlet into her hands. She would do this for him. Even if it broke her. Her last act of love.

Wanda felt Vision's mind quiet. His desperation morphing into peace. The pain hidden under layers of strange calm. This was freedom after all. Death was the only choice he had left.

She wanted to hold on to this moment, make it last forever. Just the two of them. This was all she had left. She wasn't ready to let it go.

She needed it to be over. She didn't know how long she could stand here, destroying him. She didn't know if she would survive another loss. Not at her own hands.

_I just feel you._

Tears ran down her face as he echoed her words from the day before. She was the losing the battle with her own will.

She felt Vision swallow his scream when the first bolt hit him. He pushed it aside, burying it beneath his determination. Even in his final moments, he was protecting her. He would not let her waver.

_It's alright._

Thanos drew closer. Wanda felt her friends falter. Each step bringing him closer. Time was running out.

She didn't think she had the strength to hold him back. Not when it was taking everything she had to force herself upright. She tried anyway. She would die trying. Vision's sacrifice would not be in vain, even if it meant she died with him.

 _It's alright_.

Even as he came apart at the seams, Vision held onto her. He lent her strength. She could feel herself faltering. Vision's presence in her head fading just when she needed him the most. She was torn between Thanos and Vision. The scarlet stretch to the absolute limits of its power. Until it almost hurt to keep going.

God, give me strength.

It had been years since Wanda had been desperate enough to pray. She had been coming apart then too. The scarlet ripping through her mind until Wanda felt undone. She didn't even know if she had still believed when she prayed for the strength to hold the scarlet. To live.

It was irony at its finest. Once, she had prayed for life. Now, she prayed for death. Not hers but death nonetheless.

Break. Break. Break.

Wanda felt something give beneath her hands. It was over. She had succeeded. Destroyed the only person left that she still loved.

_I love you._

The stone splintering into a million pieces. Vision was gone. There was nothing left. The only thing left was the dust blowing in the wind. Wanda shattered.

No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't stop the shaking. She couldn't force her lungs to draw enough air. Her whole body wracked with desperate sobs.

Wanda knew loss. It had made its home so deep inside of her that it was carved into her bones. She had learned to turn pain to rage and rage to power. It was the only way she knew to survive. The only way to move forward.

Pietro died and Wanda's rage tore Ultron's beating, metal heart from his living body.

Now, she felt nothing. Just emptiness. There was no rage to exploit. There were just more hollow parts inside of her than she had imagined possible.

Thanos stroked her hair. Wanda waited for his rage. She waited for death. Just like she had in Sokovia. This time there was no one to save her. She had taken Thanos' lonely hope for success. She waited for his strangely tender gesture to turn to pain. The scarlet was quiet inside her.

Instead, Thanos spoke. "I understand, my child, better than anyone," his words cutting through her haze.

"You could never," Wanda managed through gritted teeth.

"Today, I lost more than you can know."

She wanted to call him a liar. She wanted to scream and rage. She wanted to destroy him the way he had destroyed her. Instead, she felt his loss. It was like a beacon calling to her.

 _Gamora_. The name came to her unbidden. Thanos' daughter. She felt his heartbreak as he carried the only thing he loved and tossed her over the cliff. She haunted him. His sacrifice for the greater good.

It only made Wanda hate him more. He thought they were alike because they knew the pain of killing for the greater good. 

It wasn't the same. It wasn't the same at all.

She had allowed Vision to die on his own terms. She had freed him. She had honored his choice even when it destroyed her.

"Now is no time to mourn. Now is no time at all."

No. No. No.

Her mind pieced together Thanos' calm just as the bright green light blinded her. She felt Vision being to reform. His love, pain and hope all in reverse.

It was all for nothing. She called the scarlet but for once it didn't come to her fingers. There no point. She couldn't fight. He would kill her and bring Vision back again. He would get the stone.

She couldn't fight against time.

Wanda felt Vision's confusion then his dawning realization as he understood what had happened.

_I'm so sorry._

He had no time to scream as Thanos ripped the stone from his skull. Vision's body collapsed to the ground. Empty. It was nothing but a hollow shell. Wanda found herself reaching for it before she even understood what had happened.

It was all for nothing.

Wanda couldn't bring herself to move. It was over. They lost. She had tried so hard but it wasn't enough. She hadn't been enough. She had never been enough. 

The air shifted. Something changed. She could feel it inside her. Minds vanishing into nothing. Dust blowing in the wind. She felt her body begin to dissolve and she couldn't bring herself to fight anymore.

She was tired. At least, she would no longer have to live with the grief consuming her. At least, she would never have to know the pain of a broken heart again. She would not have to live with the guilt. The pain. She would not have to live alone.

Wanda looked at Vision's shell.

Please don't let me be alone.

**Author's Note:**

> I've been working on this story since Infinity War came out. I keep rewriting and I finally decided to take the plunge and post it. This is only my second completed fic so I welcome constructive criticism.


End file.
